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My Son Announced He Was Dropping Out of High School: Mary’s Story

September 15, 2011 by Norene Wiesen

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This post is the fourth in a series aimed at sharing the success stories, both personal and professional, that Scientific Learning employees witness every day.

Mary’s Story:

I was hired at Scientific Learning in 2007 to educate people about the products as an Account Manager in the Midwest. At the same time that I got the phone call to find out if I had interest in talking to Scientific Learning, our ninth grade son announced to us that he was not going to high school and he was going to drop out. It took my breath away. Both his father and I have been educators for many years and we both hold advanced degrees.

I said, “Todd, you have to go to high school,” and he said, “But I don’t want to go.” I said, “But you have to,” and he asked, “Well, what would happen if I didn’t go?” I said, “It’s the law, Todd.” Then he said, “I can’t read. I can’t keep up with it. You guys have done everything for me that is possible but I can’t read. I can’t read at grade level.”

I called my son’s teacher (we convinced him to go to school) and I said, “Here’s the carrot. My son doesn’t have to do any homework until he finishes this product. This is his homework at night.” And every night he came home and did Fast ForWord.

And what he did is committed to doing 90 minutes a day and he was done is less than 4 weeks, and he did the post test and when I looked up the score my son had gone from seventh grade, one month reading level to tenth grade, two months reading level. He was a year above grade level and for the very first time in his life he said, “I love to read.”

All I can say is thank you to all the scientists that did all the work to bring this product to not only my son but to the parents and kids out there in America who need it so desperately.

Implementation Fidelity: Maximizing Your Fast ForWord® or Reading Assistant™ Investment